The Swimmers is a 2022 movie about real-life sisters Yusra and Sarah Mardini, Syrian refugees who swam alongside a sinking dinghy full of refugees in the Aegean Sea on their way to the island of Lesbos. Eventually they reached Germany and Yusra went on to swim at the 2016 Rio Olympics as part of the Refugee Team.
What does this have to do with feminist fitness? Not much really. I watched the movie with the idea it might be worth reviewing for a blog post. It’s not a bad movie, but not much of a feminist fitness angle.
However, there was some pretty amazing swimming. Yusra Mardini swam butterfly competitively, and there were plenty of sequences showing very fast, efficient butterfly stroke. At every swim practice since I watched the movie I have tried to recreate what I saw on the screen.
Do I look like this?
Nusra Mardini, wearing a white swim cap and pink swim goggles is reaching forward with her arms outstretched in butterfly stroke. She is in bright blue water with water splashing up around her head. Photo was taken at the Tokyo Olympics in July 2022, by AFP.
Not a chance! But for a few moments each length – if I’m lucky – I feel like I look like this, and that’s what matters to me.
Last week, my upper back was tight and I tried a new (to me) video from Heart and Bones Yoga. While the movements were similar to many upper body yoga videos I have done in the past, this one included a small tweak that made a big difference for me.
The instructor was leading us through one set of seated twists and invited us to place our hand on the front of our waists and try the twists again.
The tweak in this twist? We were supposed to keep our hand facing forward and try to just turn from the ribs upwards. (She explains it better in the video but stick with me.)
A video from the Heart and Bones Yoga YouTube channel entitled ‘Yoga for the Thoracic Spine.’ The still image shows the instructor in exercise clothes doing a forward lunge on a blue yoga mat in a light coloured room. Their left leg is in front and their right leg is extended behind. The instructor’s left forearm is resting on their left knee while their right arm is extended forward. They are looking downward.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE!
I thought that the untweaked twist felt pretty good but when I modified my movement as she suggested it totally changed the nature of the stretch. It felt purposeful, targeted, and it was absolutely terrific.
I swear that small change made my rhomboid muscles feel better than they have in ages.
I have been practicing that tweaked twist in my chair, while waiting for the kettle to boil, and while brushing my teeth and I think it has helped a lot.
Your mileage may vary, of course, but if your upper back is tight, why not give it a whirl? (Report back! Please!)
PS – If you have always done twists with that kind of alignment, I’m jealous. I have never picked up on that specific alignment cue before. But, since she included it in her video, I guess it must be a common-enough thing.
I know that the fitness industry spends a lot of time trying to reassure women that you can get strong and lean and toned (whatever the hell “toned” means) without getting bulky. Yeah, yeah. And while I’m sure that is true for lots of women, it’s never been true for me. When I start doing sprinting drills on the bike, my quads grow. When I start lifting heavy weights in the gym, ditto my arms and shoulders.
There was a blog post that I shared to our Facebook page some years ago (and now can’t find of course) by a personal trainer who always threw on a jacket when meeting with traditionally feminine would-be clients because she’d learned that some women didn’t select her as a trainer because they didn’t want to end up looking like her. But I don’t mind that I have that kind of build. If I were a man, I’d be “brawny” or “burly” or maybe even “husky.” But we don’t have words like that for women. See Where are the muscular, larger women’s bodies? Really what I want though are just clothes that fit.
During the pandemic years I’ve mostly been working out at home and then with knee surgery I’ve been focusing on rehab. The only upside of all the home exercise is that without the big weights at the gym my arms finally fit easily in my suit jackets. Ironically the was the one time I wasn’t wearing them because #wfh and zoom.
All that is finally letting up. I’m back in the gym. I’m bench pressing again once in a while. I’m doing lat pull downs and shoulder presses. I’m very happy to be deadlifting again. I wrote here about loving the landmine exercises. And once again my suit jackets are feeling tight.
SheHulk is okay wearing tank tops but she struggles when she’s got to go from her regular human body to her super hero form. It’s an an issue both on the show for the character and for the people making the show. There’s even a character, Luke Jacobson, who designs clothes for super heroes.
“Buying ready-to-wear clothes is already a bit of a challenge, and the idea that you could buy clothes that would fit the waist, shoulders, and legs of a woman who’s both 5 feet, 4 inches (the height the internet says Maslany is) and 6 feet, 7 inches (She-Hulk’s in-show height, per the creators) tall depending on her mood seems tough to imagine. But She-Hulk director Kat Coiro says while they were certainly aided by some good old-fashioned Marvel CGI, they worked to make sure all of her fashion choices actually had some foundation in reality.
“We absolutely discussed and tested out methods of how you would do that in real life,” Coiro tells Polygon. “6-foot-7 is large, but it’s still very much human scale. And we had a woman on set with us, an actress named Malia [Arrayah] who is our double, and she is 6-foot-7. And what was surprising is that things would actually fit her better than you would think.”
Here Jen is in her super hero suit made by Luke Jacobson.
Probably there’s a fair bit of spandex involved.
And while I’m no She-Hulk I am going to start to look for some formal work clothes that have stretch built in. My sense is that the pandemic and the rise of athleisure wear have made this more possible. Wish me luck shopping once my year of no buying clothes comes to an end in July.
CW: talk about eating and feelings around the types of food eaten
This month for me has been filled with a lot less cooking than usual. My department is hiring an assistant professor, which means we’ve had a cavalcade of candidates on campus for interviews, teaching demos, job talks, and meals. Lots of meals. And none of them particularly satisfying (the meals, not the candidates).
Not to complain– the meals are free, after all, which appeals to my inner graduate student. But eating so often at the campus cafeteria and local eateries in the small suburban town 40 miles from where I live has been sort of low-level drudgery. So, you would think that, on days I am free to eat on my own, I’d be cooking foods that felt better to my palate, to my tummy, to my weekly needs. Sadly, no– that’s not how these weeks have been playing out. Instead of making nice quiches or sheet pan bakes or stews, I’ve been scrounging around my fridge and pantry, making carb-heavy veggie-light food and flopping on the couch.
There’s nothing wrong with eating whatever you eat. All of us on the blog have written about this many times. And we believe it, and there’s evidence to support our views. But sometimes, in some lives (my life right now in particular), eating feels yucky. It makes sense– I’ve been very busy with candidates, more driving than usual, scrambling to get work done that I couldn’t do because of the schedule shift, and my eating patterns have changed in ways that don’t support my feeling good.
Tomorrow (Monday) is our last of four candidate visits, so there will be room to shift back into ways of food shopping, preparing and eating that better suit me and my system and my feelings. I’m reminded of a post I wrote way way back in February 2019 (remember 2019? Me neither…) It’s about a book, Pressure Cooker: Why Home Cooking Won’t Solve Our Problems and What We Can Do About It. If you haven’t heard of this book, it’s worth checking out.
See you all next week, and I’ll report (briefly) what’s cooking…
I have to say, every month as I settle in to write my blog post, I realize I am about to write about something that might seem totally unremarkable to many of our blog readers. I am, in fact, a work in progress when it comes to my relationship with activity, and with my body. I have written before about my mixed-relationship with exercise.
The truth is, I really value my monthly post here, for the opportunity to reflect. Since I was a never “good at sports,” I pretty much avoided using my body when I could. When I did use it, it was either painful physically or the experience challenged my self-confidence emotionally. So THANK YOU to Sam and Tracy for creating this space, and making it an inclusive one where people like me can share our less-than-glorious experiences with sport.
Like many middle-aged, white women, I have heard about the wonders of yoga for a long time. Years ago I went to a few classes and got entirely overwhelmed by them. I wasn’t so wise then, and set myself up for failure by going to drop in classes where I was WAY out of my depth. And I gave up.
But last week, I went to a yoga class at my workplace. My employer provides the class and my colleagues were very encouraging with gentle invitations for a few weeks. So I got brave and went. My workplace has been quite stressful for me, and I thought if nothing else I would lay on the mat and breathe.
This is me back at my desk after yoga – sweaty, relaxed and smiling!
Well, let me tell you readers, that is NOT what I did. In fact, I did all the moves. I kind of rocked it, at least in my head 😊. I definitely wobbled a whole bunch and more than once looked up and realized I was bending when I was meant to be standing or something… but still. I managed to plank a bit. I downward-dogged along with everyone. I child-posed when I needed to. I even lizard-ed. I LOVED IT.
I have talked about my hip surgeries before – I’ve had 2 repairs in 3 years. This was quite a moment of excitement for me – my hips were a little sore afterwards, but now 4 days later I can say that they are totally fine. WOW. And it was fun. The teacher was kind and encouraging of everyone to go at their own pace.
So, as soon as I got back to my desk, I signed up for next week’s class. And I intend to be back every week that it’s running. I hope I can find the teacher off-campus and maybe attend another of her classes. Me at yoga? Wow.
I’m loving being back at the gym, partly for all the equipment that’s there that I don’t have at home. It’s great to be back where there’s a squat rack for squatting and a hex bar for dead lifting. I also like the assisted pull-up and dip machine–at my gym it’s a graviton–and the lat pull down machine and a bench for bench pressing.
I know some of you have this stuff at home but I have a small house that’s full of cats and dogs and a bearded dragon. Not to mention all the people and their stuff. We’re Zwift-ing at home and doing physio and other floor exercises at home. There’s also a TRX there but for weights and strength training I’m happy to be back at the gym.
Here’s one of my favorites, the landmine.
What is it?
“A landmine is a piece of exercise equipment. It’s a barbell anchored to the floor with a weight on the other end. The angle of the bar allows you to apply force vertically and horizontally. You use a steady, controlled speed to move the barbell in a natural arc instead of in a straight line.”
Three weeks ago I got COVID and I was a miserable puppy. Truth be told, I was bitter as all get out after three years of steady masking, sanitizing, distancing, and limiting large group events on top of the vaccinations.
ID: Grumpy cat staring angrily represents my mood accurately. Photo by Cyrus Chew on Unsplash
Once I began to feel better, I started looking at how I would resume training. Three years in, we have a fair bit of research and information on how to do this safely post COVID infection. This article provides an overview of the research and offers some guidelines on how to resume activity. The authors write:
Return to exercise guidelines post-COVID-19 need to consider an individual’s duration & severity of symptoms, the presence of co-existing medical conditions, pre-morbid fitness, and the intensity of intended post-infection exercise. Return to exercise should also aim to minimize the development of non-COVID-19 related complications (e.g. musculoskeletal injuries) that may be associated with sudden increases in training volume and intensity following a period of mandatory isolation & relative inactivity.
The Reader’s Digest version: be careful, don’t do too much at once, and if anything changes for the worst, see a doctor. Here’s a short list of what you can do about managing your return to exercise post COVID:
Make sure you have rested and are symptom-free. Even with mild cases, fatigue is a serious consideration.
Ease back into your fitness routine, regardless of your fitness level. This article recommends trying gentle activities and assessing how your body feels.
If your lungs were affected in a significant way, cardio type exercises should be avoided in the short term.
Movement is important for recovery. As one Australian publication put it: “… think of any movement as a form of “exercise”. This could be getting up and going to the toilet or any other basics of your day. Movement can help stimulate the immune system and help people in their recovery, however, it’s a fine balance. If you feel uncomfortable, that’s a sign to take a break.”
I also found this handy guide that describes five stages to recovery and what activity is appropriate, when and how it should affect you.
Based on my research, I’ll be taking it slow for the next month. Everyone’s experience of COVID is different. While enforced idleness and isolation aren’t really what I wanted to be doing when my to-do list was a mile long, getting better and staying that way just got pinned to the top of that list.
— MarthaFitat55 is looking forward to getting her fit on.
It’s not that there’s anything wrong with lifting tiny dumbbells. After all, we’re all in favour of starting small. It’s just that they are over-represented among the stock photos of women lifting weights.
“Stock photos are the internet’s idea of what the world should look like, sets of generic images intended to illustrate articles and advertising, often revealing more worldview than they probably set out to. There are famously a lot of photos of white women laughing near salad, meant for healthy eating content, but also reinforcing inane cheer and self-denial as cornerstones of femininity. If fitness imagery of the young is all about aspiration – six packs, muscle definition and impossible body fat percentages – fitness imagery of older people is almost anti-aspirational. Its message is: “You probably can’t do anything at all, but look over here, there’s a lady managing this tiny thing.”
And then since I was starting to write about strength training I started to search for some photos myself, checking out Unsplash and Scopio, and searching for older women lifting weights. I got tiny weights but young women. One older woman but she’s lifting groceries.
Woman in blue tank top holding gray dumbbellOlder woman in pink cardigan holding grocery bag standing outdoorWomen exercising with tiny dumbbells
Once you notice the phenomena it’s kind of striking.
Stock photos of women and weights are either very glamorous looking women–white, twenty something, lean and muscular and in a CrossFit style gym– or they’re lifting teeny tiny dumbbells.
Sometimes we get nuggets of wisdom in places we do not expect them. I am, typically, suspect that I will walk away with such bits of wisdom when listening to people who are “slick”. Without going into too much detail about the slick person who I have in mind, there was a speech he gave last year where he told a story about talking to his partner in the morning about the day ahead and the items on his “to do” list. After he finished listing the things he “had to do”, apparently his wife (this is the part where it may be true, or it may just be a good way to get the point across) said to him, “you don’t have to do those things, you GET to do those things”. The moral of the story being that if he thought of those items on his list as things he “gets” to do, rather than things he “has to”, it completely shifts his perspective, as well as his enjoyment of the task and day ahead.
I appreciate this bit of wisdom. It has stuck with me. Not, necessarily, with respect to work (mostly because I am currently in transition in that regard) but in other areas of my life. As with most things, it comes up often for me during fitness endeavours.
A black slate in a white frame with the letters “YAA AAA AAS” – perhaps relaitng to that moment you realize a bit of wisdom has been imparted?
This morning on my run, I thought “I get to do this”. “how lucky am I”. It became part of my mantras for the day. In the sticky parts where my mind may be thinking about the finish line or my coffee in hand, rather than being in the moment and enjoying the run, I thought, “I get to do this”.
Going back to my transitional career stage, thinking about it as a privilege that I “get to” have this time to consider next steps, rather than letting myself get stressed about this time off lasting too long and the potential ramifications if it does, it is helpful to think of this time as a period I “get to” reap the benefits from.
I had lunch with an old friend the other day and she was telling me about her back issues and how they have set her back a bit in her fitness routine and how frustrating it has been. We have all had injuries, minor or significant, and know how frustrating it can be when it prevents us from being able to do the things we love. I am always grateful when I wake up (that in itself) and I am in a healthy and able position to do the movement I have planned for the day. I get to do things. Thank you.
As for “thank you”, I also say this a lot in my head. I am not sure who I am saying thank you to, but it is gratitude for the day, the hour, the state of being that allows me to have experiences. Good or bad. Frustrating or invigorating. I can’t help but have this gratitude for many reasons.
That’s what I think the biggest difference between “get to” and “have to” is – gratitude. In the truest sense. For just being and being able. That is life, no?
Nicole P. lives in TO with her husband and two dogs and enjoys getting to run, strength train, complete HIIT workouts and walk everywhere as primary mode of transportation.
These days I’m feeling like there is a lot more “more” in my life. And it’s not just a feeling. I’m back to full-time teaching after a semester sabbatical. And during that sabbatical, I did significantly less than I usually do– both in life and when on sabbatical. I let the cadence of my activity slow down. And I liked it. A lot.
Back on campus and in the classroom, I’m enjoying getting to know this year’s crop of students, with their liveliness and energy and surprises (mostly good ones). We’re hiring, too, so I’ve been meeting this year’s crop of job candidates, both on paper and in person. On the home front, I just finished a 9-day stint of dog sitting for Dixie, who is beautiful, high energy, and a bit of a drama queen when it comes to her round-the-clock petting needs.
Dixie on the loveseat during our morning coffee/petting meditation.Dixie noticing my food, hoping her winning smile will garner her a share.Dixie sulking on the sofa after my hand got tired from all that petting.Dixie on my bed, hoping for all-night cuddles.
I love Dixie– she’s a sweetie and a loving companion. I enjoy teaching and am happy in classrooms talking with students about topics we care about. It’s been fun spending time with my colleagues, making the candidates at ease, showing our goofy selves and learning some philosophy along the way.
At the same time, I’m yearning for more simplicity– less busyness, fewer transitions from this to that to the other thing, not so many details and complexities to attend to. Ot rather, not so many details to attend to, all in the same short space of time. Not being in a rush all the time.
Last week, there was one space where I was able to achieve exactly those desires: the neighborhood dog walk. Christine wrote just yesterday about adapting her interests for more speed or energy exertion while not rushing her canine companion, Khalee. What I found was that Dixie’s sniffing and ambling pace was the perfect complement to the hurrying up I have been doing lately. Dixie gave me the excuse I needed to amble and sniff, pause and breathe, stroll and appreciate the morning/day/evening.
Yes, all this points to me getting a dog, which I may do, but not right now. However, without a dog to walk, it’s hard to implement a consistent slow-down activity that’s as refreshing. Yes, there are all sorts of activities I do and enjoy. But these days, it feels like I’m shoehorning them into a crowded schedule. Is there a way to treat ourselves with the same care and no-other-option/gotta-do-it attitude that we do with our dogs? Yes, there are all sorts of tricks and routines and plans and incentives around. I guess I’m looking for something else– a combination of imperative and permission slip.
Yes, I need a permission slip! Can someone sign this for me?Yes, I like the hand-drawn sign here– an imperative in simple form.
I’m going to see if I can give myself permission to go to that gym I just joined. It looks like a lot of fun, and I would like to take time out of my busy schedule to do just that. Once I get there, I’ll just do whatever strikes my fancy, for whatever duration and at whatever pace. Let’s see what happens by the end of the week.
